Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Mari Iki and Martin Maguss are San
Francisco collectors. They are avid collectors and have amassed an impressive
collection with a modest budget.Over
the years, they have purchased works by artists such as Andy Warhol, Robert
Rauchenberg, Keith Haring, Francis Bacon, Nan Goldin, Gary Simmons, Vik
Muniz—the list goes on. They have also been great supporters of the many local art
galleries.Pam and I met them in the
late 1990s at the first Blackman art fair at Fort Mason where they purchased a
small print from us. At a recent dinner
for the artist Gary Simmons, we found out that Martin began collecting art in high school. I wanted to see their collection,
and I asked if I could interview them.

Q:
Martin, when
did your passion for collecting art begin?

Martin:My dad instilled the values—you save up, then you
can buy what you want. Growing up in Canada, I was excited about American
culture. In high school, Lichtenstein and Warhol were on my radar. I had a part-time
job and saved enough to buy my first piece.

Q:
The
Lichtenstein was the first piece you purchased?

Martin:Yes. I showed it to my dad, and said, “I bought
this artwork by an American artist who I absolutely admire, Roy Lichtenstein.” My
dad asked me how much I paid for it, and when I told him, he was livid. I said,
“Wait a minute. You told me to save, and if I saved enough money, I could buy
whatever I wanted. So this is a win for everybody. Now I want to go to New York
and meet Andy.” My dad said, “Andy who?” I told him, "I want to meet Andy Warhol."

Roy Lichtenstein, Hand and Foot, 1964 Color Silk Screen Print

Q:
How did you
know about these artists?

Martin:I was attracted to pop culture. While in high
school, I’d also spend my free time in the National Gallery of Canada looking
at Claes Oldenburg’s Bedroom Suite
and the work of James Rosenquist. Expo 67 was also a big influence, because the
American pavilion exhibited all the Pop artists. I travelled to Montreal to see
it!

In university, I majored in graphic design and photography. I
spent a great deal of time with close friends, having wonderful dialogues about
the current artists—Julian Schnabel, Francesco Clemente, and others in the
early 1980s.

Q:
Did you get to
meet Andy Warhol?

Dining Room

Martin:Yes. I got on a Greyhound bus and went to New York.
It was a different time, you could just do it. I’d met him a couple of times in
Toronto as well. Meeting him really did change my perspective on art.

Q:
So when you and Mari met, your relationship revolved around art?

Martin:We were talking, obviously, a lot about art. She
took me to the Berkeley Art Museum to see this painting that she just loved.

Mari:I said, “Oh, you have to see this museum, because
it’s just great.” I would go there all the time. I showed him my favorite
piece—a painting by Francis Bacon.

Q:
Mari, was there
a conscious moment when you decided to start collecting?

Mari:For as far back as I can remember, whenever I
travelled with my family, I went to museums. I stood in line to attend the
Avedon retrospective that David Ross curated at the Berkeley Art Museum. I had
all these posters of amazing shows that I’d been to. Later, after Martin and I
met, we went to the Fraenkel Gallery.

Martin:That was October 1984.

Mari:Martin asked Jeffrey Fraenkel to show us the
Mapplethorpe still lifes. They were gorgeous black and white images of orchids.
I forget how much they were—$500, $700—but I just said, “Wow...that’s so much
for a black and white multiple.” Martin told me, “You spend money on posters,
you should think of getting the real thing. Like these photographs, they’re
beautiful.” We never got one!

Before
I met Martin, I used to go into the Stephen Wirtz Gallery, always looking at
Raymond Saunders’s work. Later, I went in with Martin and looked at a Raymond
Saunders print maybe ten times. Finally, with guidance from Stephen Wirtz, the
Saunders print was the first piece that I purchased.

Mari:That was my first contemporary art
“acquisition,” but we do tend to agree.

Martin:The amazing thing about our relationship is if
Mari and I see an exhibition, we will usually independently pick out the exact
same piece. We have to work within a budget—we don’t have a lot of “disposable
income”—we both have regular jobs.

Mari:Frankly, when we’re interviewed about collecting,
it’s to show that anybody can collect.

Q:
There must have
been a point at which you realized...

Mari:We saw a segment on 60 Minutes in 1995.

Q:
It’s not about
the Vogels is it?

Mari:Yes—Herb and Dorothy!

Martin: We had an epiphany. They were such an influence to
us! They didn’t have a fancy New York City lifestyle, and they had a comparable
budget to work with. We thought, “Here are people who think in a similar way.”

Mari:They have some of the same priorities! It’s okay
to not want to get a new sofa or something, but to purchase art. Most of our
decisions revolve around looking at or purchasing art. Our friends thought we were
crazy.
﻿

Q:
I want to focus
for a moment on the idea of curating a collection. Do you have an overarching
idea for your collection, or is it based on a gut reaction?

Mari:It is an informed gut reaction. I once asked a
friend why a museum director had spent extra time with us. He said, “Because I
explained to him that you have a collection.” I said, “But we don’t have a
collection. We just collect.”

Q:
Is that how you
still think of it today? Or now that you have all this work, do you feel a
sense of responsibility?

Mari:We do feel a certain responsibility. What happens
to it when we’re not here? We haven’t really come up with...

Q:
The perfect
plan?

Martin:Yes. The one thing we’re consistent about…for any
work in our collection, we will always loan for educational purposes. It’s for
the betterment of the artist’s career; it’s not about us, it’s for them.

Q:
What about your
relationship to the artists who make the work? Is it important to meet the
artist? Or does that change the relationship?

Mari:When we can meet them, it’s wonderful. For
example, Sean McFarland, who shows at Eli Ridgway Gallery, is an emerging
photographer, and we’ve learned a lot about his work by getting to know him.

Martin:I’ve always said to Mari, if there’s an
opportunity to meet an artist, we should. I remember when Mari met Diebenkorn
and Thiebaud; I met Warhol, Haring, and others. If you can hear them talking
about their work, that’s the best!

Martin:You’ve worked with Martin Puryear, Caio Fonseca, Radcliffe
Bailey, Gary Simmons, and other artists that we admire. Artists that are
continuing the line of creativity. Whether they work with paint, wood or other
media—when they come into your studio and address another medium, the
creativity is all the same! For us, there’s little distinction between
painting, drawing, and works on paper.

Q:
What is your
advice to the novice collector?

Mari:Look everywhere, read a lot, and then remember
to look at the new and emerging artists and galleries.

Martin:Mari and I spend an inordinate amount of time not
only looking at work, but also talking about work. We’re always looking, even
when we know we won’t be purchasing. We never buy for investment.

There
are always opportunities for young collectors. Someone might not have the
budget for a Kerry James Marshall painting, but they could consider one of his
amazing prints.